The Stripclub

So I made it to  Houston and found my way through the mobs of traffic.  I think I have an idea on how we can fight the fanny pack mafia.  See, those men that are walking around airports wearing fanny packs, they must be stopped.  As I look at some of them, I realize that they are someone's father, maybe even someone that might read this blog.  I have figured out how to stop this epidemic.  I want you to go call any man or woman in your family tonight and make sure they are not "wearing."  Fanny packs, that I know of, were never cool.  ESPECIALLY if you are a man, you should not EVER wear a fanny pack.  So if someone in your family is "wearing", please warn them.

 

So I went to eat Sushi tonight and sat at the bar alone.  It's neat eating by yourself sometimes, you discover new things about yourself.  I've realized that when I am alone, I am not super super outgoing and my normal crazy guy self.  I am much more laid back and quiet.  I downed a lot of sushi and headed out.  I ran into a man who needed a few dollars to catch a bus.  He was probably one of the most interesting men I've met on the street.  I usually never believe what they say.  This guy's name was Tommy and I think I believed him.  His speech was very well and he was very educated.  Long story short, I was able to share the gospel with him after he shared stories of the strip club across the street.  I love listening to people talk about strip clubs, boobs, and other nasty stuff when all along I know I am going to share the gospel with them.  These are the easiest because they cannot lie to you and say they are this super Godly Christian.  This guy told me his story and said that he had lost millions in the Enron scandal and also when his restaurant was closed down because a delivery person killed someone while on duty.  We talked a little about money and this guy really knew his stuff.  We talked about evolution, this guy knew his stuff.  I told him that none of anything we said mattered unless he knew Jesus.  He went on and on.  We talked about Matthew 7 where Jesus says that some will say to him on judgement day, "we did all these things in your name.." and He says, "Depart from me you workers of iniquity, I never you."  I told Tommy that those were the scariest words in the Bible for me.  Those words often sober my thoughts and make me analyze myself and whether I really "know" Him.  Tommy thanked me for talking to him and I thanked him for the same.  I told him to go out and share the gospel and to quit going to strip clubs :)

 

The most amazing part of this story is that this man raved and raved about Lakewood Church, home of Joel Osteen.  Gosh I want to run into Joel.  I'll hug the craziness out of him.  :)

Hair Loss, Color Change, and Fighting Fat

So I celebrated yet another year of being alive and turned the ripe nice age of 27. It never ceases to amaze me how fast the years fly. I feel like just yesterday I was jumping on an old dirtbike my dad went and bought me when I was maybe 13. Now I think back and that was almost 14 years ago! Props to my many friends who called and sent me nice text messages. Major props to my mommy who sent me a goody basket filled with some of the best brownies I have had. It was filled with a wind chime which I have already hung and another sign that you are old when you super enjoy getting a wind chime for your birthday. It was also filled with some healthy and some not-so-healthy snacks! I love my mommy.

It's amazing the times you realize how important time is.

1. On the way to the airport as you are fighting traffic.
2. After you have went the 2nd round at the carwash and have no more quarters.
3. When you find Jesus at 65 and think back on the time you missed in this life.
4. At the Zaxby's drive-through at 10:01.
5. When a friend passes away.

I really am trying to focus on the NOW of my life and stop thinking about the future. I struggle so much with that, it makes me miss the big and small opportunities. I want to have fun in this life and run a strong race that Jesus can be proud of. I want to recline at His table in glory and not feel like I wasted it. I've noticed in my nice age of 27 that I don't have time for people to complain, so I will complain about them. :) I haven't encouraged other people as much as God has encouraged me. I haven't given as much as God has given me.

I'm off for another week on the road. I'm going to be working in an area where reportedly there were 6 people shot in the same week. This is encouraging. You can say a prayer that I don't get hit by a drive-by in Houston, I'm not joking by the way. The last time I was there, I was cussed out just by standing with my computer in my hand. If you are my friend, I love you, if you aren't, I love you too.

and..Clemson Wins

Went to the last home Clemson basketball game. What an awesome game, they had general admission and the place was packed. Over 10,000 people!

Good times

So I got to hang with some friends from college this past Friday. I also got to confirm that Lisa "mann" Freeman's baby was indeed not Tavaras Brockman's baby. This baby has red hair and is definitely not Tavaras's baby. Lisa had talked about for many years, the fact that she wanted to have a black baby. Tavaras was the most likely candidate for this job. It is confirmed, Tavaras is not the baby's daddy :) We had a good time at Wild Wing and it makes you realize how much of a grownup you are when your friends bring their kids out to dinner now :) Her baby is adorable.

In other news, my 2nd commercial aired this week in Florida! I want so badly to be able to do this on a more consistent basis! It would be one of those great bonuses of life if I could do that. I took a break away for a little but now I'm back!

Dear Ebay User

Dear Ebay User,

I am genuinely concerned about your knowledge of how eBay works.  EBay is an auction based internet site that allows anyone with a computer and an Internet connection to sell things on the Internet.  It opens you up to a world of people willing to buy your "stuff."  I have purchased on eBay and had a great experience.  I've sold items on eBay as well as traveled long distances to buy items.  I am writing to you now because I am concerned about the way you bid.  If an item has 5 days before the auction ends AND it is an item that you are interested in buying, please place the item on your "WATCH" list.  This will keep a marker for you and emails will keep you updated on how many days are left in the auction.  This will give you a chance to evaluate whether or not this is the right purchase for you.  #1 rule of ebay is to NEVER place a bid until there are just a few minutes left in the auction.  I normally don't like to bid unless there is about 2 minutes left in the auction.  If you bid with 4-5 days left in an auction, you basically drive the price up for yourself and others who might end up buying the item. 

I hope you have a great day :)

From,
Concerned Ebay Buyer who wants to buy something but people keep placing bids with days left in the auction!

JT

The Lord teaches me patience

So lately I have been learning patience through slow talkers.  I'm not talking about anyone being handicapped, I'm just talking about people who say 3 words and think 30 seconds before saying 3 more words.  In my job lately, I don't have enough time in the day to get what I need done.  So it is important that I manage slow talkers.   I sit here and literally finish their sentences in my head before they even get them out.  I really just want to do the "stand-up."  This is when you stand up in your office so that the "invader" knows to leave and it basically cuts them short.  This works great when people go on and on about their dog, child, or just silly stuff that you don't have time to talk about.  So now I just do an internal smile and wait for the slow talkers to finish.  It's so fun working in corporate america :)

Oh watch out, here comes a slow talker now, I must sneak out like a S.E.A.L!

It's mine!

Can jealousy ever be a good thing? We know that God is jealous for us, we know that He wants all of us and doesn't want us in the sin of the world and for anything to take our focus off of Him. That is good jealousy. I was talking to a friend tonight that I haven't talked to in a long time. They were telling me about all the things going on in their life in ministry and how the Lord had been giving them opportunities after opportunities. They told me how life was good in the relationship department etc etc. I was happy for them but something deep inside me just really wanted what they have. I wanted the speaking opportunities and I wanted to feel God's presence the same in my life. I think it's neat when you have friends that you can be happy for and jealous at the same time. And friends that will encourage you along in these travels of life.

I am trying to make better plans. This week, I have exercised almost every day and feel a lot better. If I take a cruise in a month or so, I do not want anyone to be scared on the beach. :)

By the way, anyone interested in a cruise?

Leprechaun in Mobile, Alabama

Who all seen the Leprechaun, say YEAHHHHH. Could be a crackhead and got a hold of da wrong stuff, and it told him to go up in the tree. Man yall have to watch this, this is the funniest thing and after a LONG day, this has made me laugh for two days :)

Fat Dog Eating Something Interesting

So I happen to log into my Google Video account to my surprise, this video has been viewed by 22,000 people. I felt a little disturbed by this for making 22,000 people waste their time. Okay, so I will post it again :)

When to throw away

So I have to confess that I love to use a Loofah. I have been using one for about 2-3 years maybe and it is quite awesome. My only question is, when do you throw it away? With most products, they get dirty and then you know to throw them away. Well, my loofah sees soap everyday and I always wash it out and hang it up. Well, I had to throw it away tonight. I haven't officially thrown it into the trash, I left it hanging with the hopes to actually put it in the trash in the morning. I mean, it still looks good. It still gets me clean, but I guess it must go. Also notice that Chris Moody's boo left her razor in my shower! It's been quite nice, it's one of those that has soap built into the top of it, okay, just kidding, I have never used it, that's gross. Only girls.

Redefining Wonderful

Today was a semi productive day. I woke up around 10AM, had a bowl of cereal, "Honey bunches of Oats" with almonds of course. I cleaned out the gutters, drove my motorcycle for about 15 minutes, and played xbox for a good solid hour. A friend of mine asked me why guys like playing xbox and video games. I explained that it's much like why girls read magazines about the top 25 most popular people or watch silly shows on tv. It's your thing. After a busy day or busy week at work, there is nothing like coming home and killing a few aliens or bad guys. It's fun and relaxing for me. Maybe some girls will never understand why men like this, but it's who we are and as long as it's in balance with the rest of our life, it's OKAY!

So the title is "Redefining Wonderful." Many of the gospel proclamations you hear today involve "God's wonderful plan for your life." This is very true. God does have a wonderful plan for your life, but as Christians, we need to make sure we are clear on what "wonderful" actually means. If the gospel cannot be preached the same in every country, it is not the gospel. Go tell the starving African people that God has a wonderful plan for their life, it will not make sense. Wonderful needs to be defined as something other than having your bills paid and a new car sitting in the driveway. I am going to sleep now :)

A week in Texas

Just got back into town from a long week of work. I did get to see two concerts on two different nights and a rodeo, so that was fun. Josh on Monday night and Sheryl Crow on Wednesday night. I also got to see God's sense of humor. I went to the Cingular store in Houston and as I rounded the corner, I looked straight at "Joel Osteen." Well not him, but his massive billboard on his church, I just laughed all alone in my Chevy Trailblazer :)

Opinions please

Would you consider this Christian?

I spoke too soon, but thanks Terrance

So a few weeks ago I was talking to some coworkers and told them, "ya know I've never had my luggage lost or had a really bad plane experience" blah blah. Well tonight was interesting. First of all, I saw a guy that my brother went to high school with and wasn't really sure if it was him, I walked up, politely asked if he was from Dillon, and he was. We spent about an hour talking, which was good because the plane was delayed. The plane was delayed but the airline reassured us that they would hold our connecting flights. I arrived in Charlotte only to see my connecting flight about to collect altitude. She would not let me on. So I made my way to a 2.5 hour line. One guy was surely about to be arrested for his attitude. The rest of us in the line had fun talking and sharing stories ranging from Walmart buying principles to a 62 year-old man who had a court date for Tuesday. I was not brave enough to ask him why. I just know that he does not currently posses an ID. Go figure. After about 2 hours, I make my way to the counter. A man named Terrance was there and he looked like he had a long night. There were over a few hundred people in line! I was very polite to him and told him that I was sorry all of the other people were jerks. He appreciated my patience (pat myself on back here) :) and he issued me a hotel voucher since I missed my connecting flight. Bad news was, all the hotels they issued were booked. He went all the way downstairs, found me, and had already booked me at another, much nicer hotel. I really want to write US AIR and tell them what a great worker he was. Now, they really did do us wrong on our flights and could have handled the arrangements better, but Terrance did his job very well. He told me that because I was nice to him, I was able to get a hotel for the night. So my lesson in all of this is: Always be nice, friendly, especially whenever everyone else is a jerk.

So I'm sitting here in a hotel room with a slim jim for dinner, and snickers for dessert with a diet coke to wash it down, this is the life. I will sleep for a few hours and put on the same clothes as yesterday because who knows where my luggage is!

Out of the mouths of babes...

So many of you know the interview with Joel Osteen and Larry King. I think many people think that I just beat up Joel Osteen. You are right. Here is why. See in our culture today, one of the issues at the peak of discussions is, "Is Jesus the only way to God?" This is getting more and more attention. At this point in our history, we have to be CLEAR on this issue and NOT back down. Good people bust hell wide open on a daily basis. The Lord says that even our "good works" are like menstrual rags to Him. It doesn't mean that He doesn't want us to do good, it means that if we are coming to Him and saying that we CAN come to Him by OUR "good works" then He responds with, these are like menstrual rags. This is disgusting but a very vivid and real thing. He wanted us to get the point.

I fly out again for Houston and I usually stay in a hotel near Osteen's church. The church with his name plastered across the front of it, okay, the top left corner. I pasted a link below to an article about Joel Osteen, Rick Warren, and Ted Haggard. Rick Warren has had numerous opportunities to speak on a national platform about his faith in Christ alone and he has failed to do it. He has one of the largest churches in America and most likely, they are doing "good things." He held a national aids conference at his church and had many Jewish, Muslim, and Christian leaders there. As well as many openly gay individuals. Not once was anything about Christ mentioned. Are we here to just do "good things" and have "good works" or are we here to do "good things" and tell people about Christ in the process? If our good works don't lead us to a place where we can share Christ, literally, what are they? They are nothing more than Joe the atheist, Sarah the agnostic, and Ahmed the muslim are doing. I'm sure all three of those people are doing the same "good works" as Justin the Christian. We have to be separate and Jesus was not the most popular guy when He made statements like "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, nobody comes to the Father except by Me." People were angry at those statements. They worked into the "quick" of the hearts and lives of the listeners. They wanted to either love and follow Him or kill Him. It was real simple. You wonder why Joel has such a big church, he said himself that he doesn't like to use the word "sin" in his church. He doesn't want to talk about what Jesus did obviously. Jesus spent more time talking about Hell than He did Heaven. Shouldn't that ring a bell with us and tell us to wake up? We cannot sit and teeter totter on our theology. We must be firm. We must take the risk being specific about salvation and how it is obtained. Jesus did not send us out with "the great suggestion" as Joel Osteen would like to think.

I honestly care about Joel, but more importantly care about the people he is influencing. We are to guard the gospel and to protect teaching. Paul spent time in the Word writing to churches about false teaching and for them to be on their guard against it. We must do the same and encourage others to study the real deal so they can recognize the false.

Can you tell that this bothers me? :)

Article about Chinese children and the Gospel
Reasons they did not find Jesus' tomb.

Camryn will hate me :)

So I saw "Breach" and I am telling you Cami is going to look just like Laura Linney when she is old. :)

Cribs, Not

So this video isn't really all that funny, but I got this towel for Christmas and really haven't shared it with anyone. It's just for decoration in my bathroom and serves no real purpose but to amuse me. Some days I am leaving it to say "Butt" and the other days to say "Face." Just depends on how I feel. :)

So I saw "Breach" tonight. Great movie, I like, I like. I am all about Spy movies and this one was especially good because it was based on a true story. So on to a more serious thought.

I know I probably have talked about Mark Driscoll a lot lately and the fact that I go to sleep at night with him on my pillow, well the laptop, is probably quite funny. He has one of the biggest churches in the US and would probably be considered the "executive pastor" at his church. One thing I like about him is that at the beginning of all his messages, he introduces himself as "one of the pastors" and always refers to Jesus as the Senior Pastor. I love it. As I was walking out of the movie tonight, I had a passing thought of the credits that were being played behind me. Of course Rhett was still talking in my ear about spies because he reads all the books and loves that stuff. (Rhett I was listening to you, I just got distracted for a second). I thought about the credits that I was walking out to. I saw a really good movie but did not stay and see who created it and the piece of film that basically thanks the creators. I thought about this a little more later. Our lives are being played out right now, and we are just supporting actors and Jesus is the star. Sure sometimes we run in front of the spotlight and want the glory, He quickly shows us we are wrong, and we get back to business. One day we are going to sit down in a home entertainment center that you could never imagine. It's going to have Jesus 100.1 speakers and a holy spirit bumping subwoofer with God the father as the best voiceover you have ever heard James E. Jones! I just feel like I forget that Jesus is watching our movie being played out and one day we will give an account to this life, our credits will roll and roll. It's amazing that nothing escapes God. He knows every hair, he knows every thought, he knows everything. I want to be proud of my movie, not because it was me in the scenes, but because I got to be apart of a script that only He could have written and I just had the chance to be with Him.



All we know is that Layla has been out a few nights and returns home stumbling.

About 6 feet 1 inch, at least according to Dr. Power Brockman.

I'm not sure this could be labeled as a stumbling block. Oh my, maybe Tavaras. :)

Filled Sunday

Today was a very good day.  We did our first skit this morning in church.  We are going through James and as Ken was preaching through James 2 and James is talking about people that need clothes and food, and us sending those people along their way without giving them anything.  So in the middle of his sermon, I walk through Tillman in shorts and old t-shirt and pretend like I'm a homeless person.  It was a fun skit and I think half the people thought I was some random person who was filled with the spirit and didn't know it was part of the skit.  It's going to be fun to start doing fun videos and skits.

In other news, I came home, read a little while and took a great Sunday nap.  I woke up and went to speak to our youth group.  I didn't know we had such a large group, it was fun and they were a great group of kids.  I left there and came home to a house full of people from my small group.  The fact that my whole day was spent doing "church" is quite a testimony of the Lord and I never thought I would be this involved in a church.  It feels good to be planted finally and have a church that I can call my own. 

With all of that being said, I have felt very uneasy lately about different aspects of my future.  I believe the Lord and what He can do and if you know me, I don't worry about much of anything.  Have you ever made a decision and just really wondered later..."Now was that really the right thing to do?" and "Lord, are you sure this is what you want?"  It's like during these times I guess that you learn to depend on the Lord even more.  I just want to be where He wants me, but sometimes I think I fear that it might not be exactly where I want to be.  It seems that is a huge part of many Christian testimonies..."boy I never thought the Lord would take me here, it was the one place we said we would never want to do." 

Also, I just finished reading Mark Driscoll's book "Confessions of a Reformission Rev: "Hard Lessons from an Emerging Missional Church."  Pretty awesome book.  Pick it up if you don't already have 50 books on your shelf that you need to read. 

Whew! What a week!

Well I got back from Houston yesterday, talk about cold! I have been to Houston many times and never thought it would be that cold. We had to work in the rain and cold one day and that my friend, was not fun. Either way, we got a lot of work done and had a good time.

Funny thing was, my hotel was right down from none other than, Joel Osteen's church. This place is massive. It almost made me kinda have a sick feeling in my stomach. He has one of the largest, if not the largest church in America. I went through what their church believes, and it all looks good on paper. I have mentioned before that he botched the Larry King interview when he had the opportunity to share his faith to millions, he resorted to saying "I don't know" to some of the basics theological questions that a 3 year old raised in the church could have answered confidently. To make it worse, I went to buy a Mark Driscoll book at the bookstore in Houston and discovered that ol Joel has his own Your Best Life Now boardgame! What has this world come to? Also, their church meets in the Compaq center which is like I said, this massive place. Remark: If any pastor is reading this and is currently building a church, please, I say please do not put your name in huge letters on the side of the building. If you want to put a name, come up with something creative like the name of your church, or maybe even something like.."Jesus Christ, our God, not just a name you use as curse word" Okay, so maybe not that either, but please don't spam your name on a building that you say is promoting Jesus and the cross. I know I probably sound harsh but I think it is warranted.

Life has not started to slow down and only continues to be picking up speed. I never thought I would reach a day where I don't even have time to check my personal email at work, this is crazy! Gmail needs me! Things look good for the future in ministry and if you want and the Lord prompts you, you can pray for me, that I will be faithful to what God has called me to do and is calling me to do. I've been reading "Confessions of a Reformission Rev." by Mark Driscoll and it has me thinking of lots of different ideas. I've realized that I am a visionary and really need someone to help me with implementation. I can think of things all day long but really struggle in putting them to work. I need someone to help get the ball rolling and then allow me to come back alongside and keep it rolling in the right direction. I am almost done with it and hope to write a review of it, as I have read many reviews on the book before reading it and want to give my opinion. I realize that it is 2:30 AM and Will Hoge kept me out way too late tonight and now I must fall asleep with Mark Driscoll's last few chapters.

Thoughts from the booth

I'm sitting in an Applebee's booth.  Well, I'm not exactly at Applebee's but a few years ago, a friend of mine led me to a place where I could get a free Applebee's booth.  I went into the restaurant and took it out, legally.  It's awesome although I don't use it much.  I like to sit in it sometimes when I am at the house alone.  It's fun to just sit here and listen to Mark Driscoll and play on Itunes.  Mark Driscoll just said something that my mom told me a long time ago.  He said that when he started dating his now, wife, that he knew she was the one when he could go on long road trips with her and not kill her.  My mommy told me that a long time ago, that taking a road trip with someone was a good test.  Anywho.

In the past few months, I have felt the Lord pulling me in one direction that I thought I would never go.  Have you ever had one of those things that you said, "yeah that is definitely not something I would do or feel led to do."  ???  Sometimes you have to hear something over a long period of time to really believe that God is serious and it is what He wants and not just your mind playing tricks on you.  On another note, I saw a woman with a baby this morning at church and I thought about being single the rest of my life.  I was like, dear Lord, please do not ever lead me that way!  Haha.  It's funny how life works and you never really know where you will end up and doing only the Lord knows what.  I drove a church van for the first time today, legally.  :) 

Off to Houston for the week, miss you, mean it. 

I am looking for you litterbug

I have wanted to do it for a long time. I love the state I live in, statistics show that SC is 2nd in State pride in the entire United States. Texas is #1. I just do not like when people litter. It drives me crazy. The worst is when I am driving into Clemson, beautiful Clemson and I see trash on the side of the road. I have been on the road a lot throughout the years and I have seen trash come from lots of cars. I always try to give them the benefit of the doubt, thinking that maybe a gust of wind rushed in a swirled their McDonald's bag out the window. Well today, I saw someone throw a cigarette out the window. I had to do it. I dialed #LB on my CINGULAR phone and got the Department of Natural Resources. They asked for a few details and that person is now going to get a nice letter in the mail with some rules and fines about littering :) What made it worse? I get up close to the car and see that they have a nice Jesus fish on the back of it!!! What! Listen people, if you are going to put a Jesus fish on the back of your car, please don't litter. Also, please don't drive like Dale Earnhart Jr. and don't flick people off, these are things that do not represent Jesus well, in case you didn't know.

I hope that the person I reported gets scared and will now quit littering in my fine state.

Now I feel like such a tattle tale :)

Song of Solomon Dance off

We had an awesome time at Song of Solomon this weekend. We had a dance off, scary!

Are you ready?

This is a pretty neat video.

Dear Cingular

Dear Cingular, the new At&t.  We have been together for almost 7 years.  Gosh, has it really been that long?  I think it started right after highschool, I left a familiar place where I knew all my options, I knew where all the towers were, I was comfortable.  Leaving that place, I had to find another option, the one I had been with for so long wasn't available in my new location.  I went out looking, listened to the advice of close friends, and I chose you.  At the time, your name was BellSouth.  I wasn't the biggest fan of your name, but your towers were quite nice.  You covered a lot of area near my dorm.  We would talk for hours and hours, it was such an awesome time.  We would go on long trips together.  I remember one time, we went on a trip to Omaha, Nebraska.  We flew on a plane together to buy a new Jeep Wrangler.  Sure, I had to store you away for a few hours, but we talked 4 hours on the way back, it was so fun. 

Sure, we had our dropped calls sometimes and you hung up on me, but I still always forgave you when you would call back.  I have kept up with our timers, and I think we have spend a few months literally talking.  Just in the past 3 years with you, I have talked with you for 36 hours.  That's 3 days straight with no breaks.  We have spent so much time together. 

To be honest, I have checked out the other networks.  I have even flirted with the idea of leaving you and going somewhere else.  I've talked to other guys and heard what they say about their relationships, it does sound good.  I am tempted.  You have done a lot lately to keep me interested.  You expanded your territory.  You changed your name.  You have even given me new options on ways to talk to you, I have many choices and technologies to choose from. 

I called you the other day and even talked about the future and what I am thinking. I asked you about the process of what it would be like if I changed.  You didn't beg me to stay, you didn't ask me how you could improve, you didn't ask if you were doing anything wrong, you were just going to let me go. 

What do I do?  I am so confused.  Most of my friends are moving over.  All and all, I am happy with you.  I feel like if I go, you'll entice me back and make me sign a contract with you.  Maybe I will stay with you, no contract for now. 

Theory of The Lord's Supper

So for many years as a child, my mom taught me that I should not drink after people.  We weren't germ-o-phobes by any means, we just didn't drink after anyone.  My mom always drank diet mountain dew, I remember her or my brother telling me that all your spit resides in the bottom and the "last sip" as it is called is a deadly one.  Well not really deadly, but nasty would be a better term.  So for my entire life, I never or I should say rarely drink after someone.  Dating is about the closest I will come to even think about drinking after someone.  So I say all that to set the stage to my theory, don't worry, it's a short one. 

It has been argued to me that I would have not done well at the Lord's Supper.  To get an idea of what the last supper with Jesus would have been like, think about a bunch of guys, sitting around, sharing deep conversation and reclining, these guys are just chilling out.  Jesus is giving them some directions about what is going to happen in the future.  He gives the example of the bread being His body, He breaks it and passes it around.  He uses the wine as an example of His blood, He passes the cup around.  So it was argued that I could not have been one of his boyz because I wouldn't have drank after anyone.  Okay, so here is the deal.  I have it figured out.  I want to be John.  See John was the disciple that was close to Christ.  He was the one that Jesus loved.  What makes John so special at the Last Supper?  Well see, John was the one on Jesus' breast.  He was listening to the heartbeat of God in one of the most intimate moments of history.  John would have been the first to drink right after Jesus.  Jesus would have passed the cup to him first.  Who would you rather drink after?  Jesus?  or one of the other disciples?  I say Jesus, of course.  I mean c'mon, He was God with skin on.  So see, I could have been at the last supper and could have drank the wine and tasted the bread in remembrance of Him.  It's just a theory. 

All you who share chapstick, drinks, etc, you are nasty.  I bet you even share toothbrushes. 

u know what I love

I love those days when at the end of the day, you feel like your life counted.  It's not like I preached to 5,000 people and every one of them received Jesus, but it was just one of those days that I can come home, turn on the XBOX 360 and enjoy relaxing.  I've realized something about myself today that I never really knew.  I need an outlet.  I've learned that all the stuff I have been learning over the past few years has never really had anywhere to be aimed out.  I've felt like a floater, a roamer, a something.  Part of it is being apart of a local church, something I have missed out on for the last few years.  There is still this big part in me that feels like I'm called to something weird.  I feel like I'm going to always be in a local church but this other big part of me feels called to something outside the box for Jesus.  Lately, I've just been hovering on this thought and desire.  I have lots of ideas just swirling around and I'm just now finding outlets to take them to.  Anywho, enough about that.

Have you ever had one of those times where you just start praying for something that you don't know why.  This happens to be rarely honestly.  But tonight, I listened to Mark Driscoll for about two hours on my ride back from Columbia.  I just love that guy and love his teaching.  He is humble, loves Jesus, and everything he says always ties back into Jesus.  It doesn't matter if he is going through deep theological talks, he always makes Jesus the hero of the story and I love it.  If you have time, listen to "teaching and preaching scripture."  I have listened to it a few times, just amazing.  Okay so the random prayer.  I finished listening to Driscoll and for some reason I just start praying for his sex life.  WHY IN THE WORLD would this pop in my head?  It was the funniest thing.  So I didn't know why, I don't know him personally.  But oh well, the Lord created sex in the bonds of marriage and Driscoll is married and Jesus wants him to have good sex, so I prayed for that.  I hope when I am married one day and teaching and preaching, someone will pray that for me :)  Sorry mom if you are reading this, but it's biblical :)

If anyone is in Greenville tomorrow night, give me a holla, we are going to try and shoot some video on the street.  I need a camera person.  As Todd Friel says, now go serve your King.

something new

So my church bought a video camera a few weeks ago and we haven't put it to good use yet.  I am taking it tomorrow into a dark place, Columbia, SC.  Please pray for me and whoever ends up going with me.  I want to have a good time and talk about Jesus in a way that gets people thinking about where they might spend eternity.  This is going to be fun. :)

I also realized that we live in a funny world when I was reading some directions to the video camera.  The directions for the video camera teach you how to "video" yourself.  Gotta love the USA.

a thought on dating...

So many of you read the title of this blog and were shocked to find that it was on my blog.  I write this to solely entertain you and to use any of this information is at your own risk.  I do caution you that people are sinful and when you date, you have two independent variables that can function very independently.  The idea that dating can fit into a box or formula is crazy.  I don't care how many books you read and if you kissed dating goodbye two years ago, it's not a formula.  I write this as a single guy who has not always done the right thing.  I think I went through many years doing the exact opposite of what I should do and hurt a few in my path as well as myself.  I have learned a lot over the past two years by listening to great teachers and people way smarter than myself.  I have learned a lot from Tommy Nelson's ministry and the Song of Solomon.  If I could boil everything I have learned down and give one piece of advice to someone, it would be this:  COMMUNICATE !  I don't think enough can be said about communication.  It is the backbone of pretty much everything we do in this life.  Good communication breaks down walls and breaks down misconceptions.  I have a degree in this stuff but it does not take 4 years of overpriced tuition to know that it is meaningful and good.  I know some of you are probably laughing at a 26 year-old man writing a blog about dating, that's okay :)  I think this is fun. 

I feel like I am around a good mix of people in my life and hear lots of different thoughts on dating and it's fun to try and figure people out.  So and So likes so and so and blah blah blah, not much has changed since the 7th grade, maybe a few of us grew taller and our voices got deeper.  Here is the first thing.  Dating has to be honest.  Look, if you are interested in someone, if you think they are to your caliber, if you think they love the Lord like you do, then your first step is to communicate.  Don't tell her best friend's cousin's sister's mom who works with your mom that you like her.  Ask her out.  This does not have to be some big show where you bring flowers and announce it over the PA at church.  It doesn't have to be complicated.  Many guys want to know if they have a chance of dating a girl before they ask her out.  I think this is a normal thought.  I think I say that because I am one of those guys :)  I think it's good to have a little report of the girl you are interested in, maybe even do a little research to see what people think of her.  You see this type of idea in the Bible where you are choosing an elder or a pastor of your church.  Get an idea of what kinda person they are, do they water camels, oh wait, that's so old testament :)  

So you get to the point where you ask the girl out.  Awesome.  If you ask her out and it doesn't go so hot, basically she says no and you realize she isn't interested, guess what, that means NO.  I'm about pursuing someone when it is right, but when I hear about guys that pretty much turn into stalkers, this is weird and it creeps girls out, don't be a stalker.  So on flip side of the coin, she says yes.  Awesome.  Treat her well, go somewhere cool, be creative, have fun.  This is where dating can get tricky.  Let's say that you go out a few times and it goes extremely well.  There comes a point after so many dates, that something needs to be communicated.  Let's say you have been on about 4-5 dates and they have all been awesome.  You don't have to get on a knee and ask this girl to marry you, but you should be able to communicate to her how you feel and where you see these dates going.  The blog version of this is..."you're awesome, i have fun with you, I would like to keep having fun with you and getting to know you."  This is what I like to call the DTI.  Define the Intentions.  This is an information only plan.  This just gives the girl something to go on, a chance to show how you have felt about the time you have spent together.  Here is the benefit of the DTI.  Many guys are afraid of commitment and the mention of the word makes them cringe.  The benefit of the DTI is that it puts you both on the same playing ground.  It lets the female with estrogen be on the same page with the male with testosterone.  The other benefit is that it gives you more time to evaluate the person and see if this is a good thing.  It's a win / win for both people.  Obviously, after the DTI and a period of dates etc, there comes a point where you need to make a decision.  Is this person the TYPE of person that you could see yourself marrying?  Notice that I didn't say WILL MARRY, but someone that has qualities that line up with how God created, gifted, and planned your life.  DTR.  Define the Relationship.  This is where either the buck stops here or next thing you know you are riding down the road in your silverado and she is sitting right beside you.  KIDDING, this should never happen unless you live in a town with less than a few thousand people.  Define the relationship is a good thing because it shows that both people are going to either commit to dating or commit to cutting ties and  just being friends.  Yes, I said, just being friends :) 

I think a lot of people get bent out of shape about dating.  It doesn't have to be complicated.  If a guy isn't being honest with you and won't give you any updates and keeps stringing you along, he's not worth it, move on.  If he really cares about you and has a clue, he wouldn't do this.  On the other side of the coin, girls, if a guy asks you out, and you don't go out with him, you don't have to announce this to everyone and their sister.  This isn't fair to the guy and it really puts him in a bad light.  This is especially tough when you many of the people you hang out with are in the same church or group of friends. 

One last thing...you can be the most honest person you have ever been and be Jesus' right hand man and still get hurt in dating.  Dating comes with many potential land mines that you could walk over at any point.  Just because you are doing the right thing and listening to the Lord doesn't mean that you are going to marry Beth Moore's daughter and have 2.5 kids.  I don't know if Beth Moore has a daughter, but I hear she's a solid believer. 

Disclaimer:  I am a single man and just because I write a blog about dating doesn't mean that I am dating, just so you know.  I do think writing is fun and more open honest communication can help us all grow stronger in our relationships with each other and with Christ :) 

What has my life come to?

Really though, what has my life come to?  I just sat at my computer and ordered Sanchismo and myself a Papa John's Pizza.  "Justin, that's not weird, what is wrong with you?"  Well the problem is...I ordered it through the internet!  If you type in the code "BOGO" in the promotion box, you get "buy 1 get 1 free"  So go BOGO :)

Now let me go pick it up.  :)

a new year is scary

So everyone always talks about what they will do for the New Year that is upon us.  All of the plans they have, dreams, hopes, desires.  The whole entourage.  I was getting ready New Year's Eve for our party and knew I would be cooking oysters, so I put on an old t-shirt.  I realized as I was slipping my long sleeve Cheersport t-shirt on that I had just put this shirt on the same day the year before.  I mean it seemed that the year just was gone.  It really just scared me.  I feel like I am going to wake up one day, I'm 40, and still doing the same thing.  Lately, I've really had this desire to make my life count.  I waste so much time without even meaning to waste time.  It's weird.  I feel like I've learned to make better use of my time because with work, I have less of it.  I've kinda learned in the past year that it's easy for life to drive over you.  You really have to work hard at keeping a biblical perspective on everything to keep the wheels of life from crushing.  I'm not saying I had a bad year, I've had an awesome year, but I have learned that life happens fast and you need a plan.  Anywho, enough about that, I'm going on...

I want to be consistent. The problem with being consistent is I've never really had a plan.  I don't really like plans and my personality is spontaneous.  I like to just up and go, it makes life interesting.  But in Christianity, you need a plan.  I just want to do something crazy in this life for Jesus.  I have this feeling always lingering that I am supposed to be doing something crazy, but I really don't have a clue what right now.  I felt the Lord call me to ministry almost 6 years ago and I'm still a working man.  I know I am called to full time ministry but really have no clue when that will come to be.  I do know that lately I have very much felt the tugging towards really preaching and encouraging preachers and evangelists.  I was listening to a message by Mark Driscoll tonight on my way to pick up Tavaras and I was glad I missed my road and could take the long way.  He was speaking about preaching and the joys of it and things he has found beneficial.  I got to listen to a few extra minutes before I picked him up.  Just amazing message.  I have just felt a call to really study the Bible and understand it.  My problem is I'm not consistent and want to improve.  I feel like there is so much story telling in American churches today and no real Bible knowing preachers.  One pastor of a huge church out west spoke for 1/2 and hour, never mentioning Jesus, then gives an altar call explaining for people to give their lives to Jesus, that he could make their life better?  WHAT????  This church has thousands of people and to give a altar call for people to "know Jesus" without explaining Jesus, sin, the cross, THIS IS SAD and SCARY.  A friend of mine gave me an excerpt from a Piper book.  Piper was talking about the importance of knowing the Biblical languages and really understanding the texts.  He writes that if a pastor does not study the Bible in Greek and Hebrew, "they and their churches with them tend to become second-handers."  Basically he was saying that we result to reading books about the BOOK instead of just knowing the Bible.  I find myself getting scared of becoming this because I LOVE to listen to online sermons.  I listen to at least 5 per week and could literally sit all day and listen to guys like Mark Driscoll, Todd Friel, James Macdonald.  I don't want these guys to substitute my own studying and my own reading.  It's a lot easier to let them do the hard work and me benefit from it.  Another thing about expository preaching that Driscoll points out is that it doesn't leave you room to leave anything out.  Going verse by verse makes sure you cover every scripture, even the tough ones!  There is a lot of differences on preaching styles and many might say that Jesus didn't preach expository.  Jesus was the Word.  He was the Word in flesh.  We don't necessarily have the complete sermons that he gave so we don't really know if He preached like that or not.  Either way, He was the Bible with feet on.  He was God with human skin wrapped around.  He was a walking and talking Bible.  Either way or either church we choose to be apart of, there must be a place where we get fed in a deep way.  There is no way that you can be past the spiritual milk that Paul talks about if you are listening to a topical sermon every week.  There has to be a place where you can dig deep into the scriptures or you will remain a baby Christian your entire life, never having any meat, always drinking milk.  When people mention sin in most churches, people get wigged out.  In the day of Spurgeon and Edwards etc, this was a common term that people heard, and they had a clear understanding of sin.  People like Joel Olsteen who focus on God's best life for you and forsake preaching on sin and even going as far as to not want to mention the word have gone astray.  Pastors and leaders have a responsibility to protect people from wolves and bad doctrine.  I am not calling Joel Olsteen a wolf, I don't know him personally.  Although his public talks and his Larry King interview says it all, he's off the rocker scripturally.  He has one of the biggest churches in America!  This should scare you.  We are called to give our best defense for the Gospel.  We are called to be aware of false doctrines and we should know the Bible well enough to know when someone says something crazy. 

Writing this, I feel conviction to go and ready my own Bible.  Please pray for me if you will, I want to have a consistent desire to know and study the Word.  I feel like I filll my spiritual tank up and live off it then go back for more.  I need help from above. 

Either way, to start this new year off, tell people what they mean to you, they might not be there tomorrow. 

New Years 2007

Here a few of the pictures from the party!  More to come tomorrow!

sittin on the dock of...

Back from Cali.  Well kinda. I am sitting in ATL airport after flying all night and had a nice lil few hour layover that gave me enough time to reach the end of the internet.  I am seeing my bed in my head and how I am going to walk in, put my pj's on, yes it's okay for boyz to wear Pj's.   Then, I will turn my fan on, the noise will be really loud, and I will sleep hard core for a few hours!  This week was interesting.  It's crazy to be working on something that makes you stretch your brain big time. 

Also, if you are one of those people who constantly invites me to eat fatty food like everyday, (Rhett), please do not invite me.  I will be happy to eat a healthy meal with you in my house or yours, but I am refusing eating out this week!  I know Pat at Macs will give me crap about not visiting, and the girls at Zaxby's will frown, and the stock of Zaxby's will continue to drop...I must do what I have to do.

they keep spinnin

So wow. The rims, they just keep spinning. We went up to West Virginia this weekend for some nice snow skiing :) We had an awesome time, such a good time, and such pain and tiredness that we decided to end a day early :) Instead of skiing all day on Sunday, we just sold our lift tickets and drove home. It was great snow and my "blades" were fun as usual, as well as the trail mix I found in my ski pockets from last year! ewwww, yummy. After spending a week of work in Houston, then straight to WV, then now in Southern Cali, I am beat! I woke up this morning at 4AM to fly to Los Angeles. I am just NOW getting in, I have almost been up an entire day!

It was an interesting day. I walk out of LAX and the first thing I see is a guy telling me I look like a movie star and have a nice beard. He then goes on to tell me how I can have inner peace. I hear him out and then look him straight in the eye and tell him with excitement that Jesus Christ has given me more peace than anything or anyone in the world and I will trust Him alone. He then went on to tell me that he trusts Him. I then tell him that he doesn't trust him completely, then he tries to tell me he does, then I tell him he is a hare chrishna and not trusting Jesus alone for the forgiveness of his sins. He then tells me to have a good afternoon :) I love Jesus and I love that in so many ways, He gave us no shady areas. He was clear on the essentials!

Now I'm off to bed in my HUGE KING SIZE bed with a white comforter, which is my new favorite kind of comforter. I have learned that if you stay in hotels enough, this is the best. I hope you are all well and sharing what you learn, now go serve your King.

this crazy life

So I never thought I would pack a bag a day before a unscheduled trip only to get back to unpack dirty clothes, try to find clean clothes, and pack for another unscheduled trip. I thought was going to California this week, I was told on Monday that I would be going to Houston. I spent this past week in Houston and got home late tonight and just got settled in. I leave for work tomorrow morning, then to West Virginia to ski, then back Sunday night. Sleep at my buddy Ed and Julie's and then head out to LA for another week at 6AM Monday. It's crazy when you look back a few years and your thoughts then about what you would be doing now. I never would have thought I would be where I am and doing what I am doing. I know the Lord is preparing something for my future. It seems like in these times I just imagine what it would have been like for Jesus to swing a hammer and miss a nail and hit his finger. He was familiar with us. He was one of us. I wonder when He was swinging the hammer, how often He was thinking of what the next few years would hold in his ministry. He was probably around my age and probably started his ministry around the age of 30. These thoughts keep me entertained. I am taking this time to learn about life, people, and food. I am such a pig, all I do is eat. I woke up this morning, put on a brand new pair of slacks and in the buttoning process, wondered how the button was going to get into the hole. Don't act like you haven't been there.

Also, a close friend of mine got married a few weeks ago. I didn't really go into great detail in talking about their wedding, but it was awesome. I just love the rehearsal dinner. I kinda feel girly because I really do look forward to someday being around my closest friends in a setting like that. Here is a clip from my toast. Not the burned bread, but the wedding rehearsal dinner :)

simple

Sometimes I think, I am a very simple man. I am not picky when it comes to food. There are only 3 things that I just do not like. Raw Onions, Spicy Mustard, and Black Olives. Everything else is great.

I also realized that I am very simple when I noticed I have a phone in my bathroom right beside the toilet. It made me happy. I

It should not have made me that happy.

a little help please

I flew into Houston tonight and was reminded of how humid it is in Texas. As soon as you get out the airport, you feel like you just got out the shower. It's such a great feeling. I'll be working hard for a week and we will have fun.

I've realized something about myself. When I am away from my "normal" life, aka, being at home, something happens. I can't quite explain it, it's like all the distractions are gone and I can think a lot more clearly. I checked into my hotel tonight and realized that I haven't really studied the Bible in a long time. I sat here at the desk and came to the conclusion that I'm really complacent right now. It's crazy how sin can make you so clueless. I think I've really been clueless for at least a year in my spiritual growth. I think you get deceived because you still care about the things of God and showing people their way to Him, but you get comfortable. I realized that I never ask people to pray for me. I have always felt like it was a burden to ask people things like that and I've realized that I'm a prideful man. I am really tired of myself and tired of waiting for what's around the corner in my life. I feel like I am waiting for this ministry that is just going to appear and I'm going to get to travel around and teach people how to reach others for Christ. As I sit here, God is totally telling me that maybe I should just try with the place He has given me. Dang. It's really neat what happens when you read the Bible. You can take a prideful heart about 15 minutes ago and the Bible can chisel a few tears out of a man. I was reading tonight in Hebrews 2 that Jesus tasted death for us. He was made lower than angels for a time and He tasted death for me. I was shaving my entire face tonight and sometimes you accidentally pluck a hair, 1 hair, and man does it hurt. In Isaiah 50 it says that Jesus gave His back to be beaten, his beard to be plucked...what...his beard. He laid all of this down for us, He tasted death for our sins, He left his place on high, for a sinful man like me, he came to die. (I love that song).

So I say all that to say please pray for me. I struggle with focus and have a hard time settling down. I think God has me in a corporate job and a normal life for a season to teach me things. I am tired of being complacent and desire to change. Whew, I feel better.

manly, arrrrrr

I'm not a John Eldredge fan and really have never liked his books.  Anywho, I couldn't help but think of him this weekend because it was a get 'er done weekend.  Being a homeowner, you are faced with things like the garage door not working, the garbage disposal breaks, and the hot water heater isn't doing you like it should.  Saturday was take the garbage disposal apart with roomie Eddie, check.  There is nothing like taking something completely apart and putting it back together and the sound you hear after you get all the pieces in line.  Ahhh, we can now throw pieces of food, oranges, and small kittens down there again...I mean...Next it was on to the Hot water heater.  My wife (saunders gibbes), wait, that's a joke.  Anywho, he had been saying that we didn't have much hot water and I noticed the same.  Not that we shower together.  Gross.  Well it would be a way to save water but highly homosexual.  Crawled under the house and was reminded of my father.  My dad is the hardest working man I know.  Even over 50, he still crawls under houses and fixes peoples' heat pumps.  I was reminded that he taught me about hard work and you should always do things right the first time.  I remember sticking around jobsites an extra hour just to make sure the smallest details were done right.  Most people would have left, not my dad, he did it right.  So I was reminded of those childhood days of crawling under houses and thankful that my house has a huge crawl space.  Honestly, why am I sharing all this, I really wanted to just say that I got the hot water heater fixed.  Now to test it out, what do you do?  You take an extremely long shower! OF course!  It was a good excuse and I was reminded in there that I have too many plans.  I have a huge struggle with focus.  I have so many things I want to do and I never really stop to just do one of them.  I sit around and think of all the things I want to do.  I have made up mind to stop doing this and do at least one of my projects. 

On another note, I thought I was going to Cali this week, but a change of plans, now I'm heading out to Houston tomorrow and then West Virginia!  Woo hoo!  And another note, thanks to my big brother and his kindness and connections, I got my first radio commercial!  It will air in Florence, SC for about a week, and I think around 70 times.  Poor people, they are going to be tired of hearing about the mortgage business :)

Sandy won't like this

So many people joke about Sandy and I being roomies and think it's funny. I have proof that I am the man of the relationship :)

For those who do not know, Sandy is a boy.

something that matters

I usually try to share things on my blog that encourage people or make them laugh.  Today is for your encouragement cup :)

Plane Grounds Because of Flatulence

There are many things you don't want to be known for.  This happens to be one of them.  I wish there was more to the story.  What did she eat?  Where did she get the food from?  These are valid questions. 

Songs of the Luke Warm Church

...from my friend Ray Comfort :)


1. Blest Be The Tie That Doesn't Cramp
My Style

2. Pillow of Ages, Fluffed for Me

3. I Surrender Some

4. I'm Fairly Certain That My Redeemer Lives

5. Sit Up, Sit Up For Jesus

6. Take My Life and Let Me Be

7. What An Acquaintance We Have In Jesus

8. Where He Leads Me, I Will Consider Following

9. He's Quite a Bit To Me

10.Oh, How I Like Jesus

11. Fill My Spoon, Lord

12. It Is My Secret What God Can Do

The last few weeks

Ashley's Wedding

So one of my best friends got married a few weekends ago, Ashley Anderson, now Ashley Jones. This was one of the most fun weddings. Ashley had asked me to drive the photographer around all weekend and kinda be there to video him doing his thing. His name is David Edmonson and this guy was good. It was really neat to be around someone who had such a talent for photography. He has done a lot of the photos for bands like Jars of Clay, Third Day, Mercy Me etc. We had a great time and it was neat to see what happens on the other side of the camera and how he set up shots etc.

Back to the wedding. It was so fun to be around people that I haven't seen in a while. The rehearsal dinner is always my favorite and I just love hearing everyone talk and their stories of fun times and their encouraging words to the couple. I just love it. The reception was another fun part, we danced for hours! It seemed that everyone was dancing, even the old people! We left the reception and went out to dance for a few more hours, I just love fun times. Also you can find Ashley's wedding book here, wow, talk about awesome.

And another one here.

I also went down to Brookgreen Gardens to visit my family for Thanksgiving. We have had our dinner there for the past few years. If you are ever near Myrtle Beach and you enjoy nature, you must stop by! My cousin Mike surprised us with some oysters he went to the ocean to get. MMMM. I love them. Some of the pictures below might disturb you.

Thanksgiving 2006

Fueled Up and Ready to Go

I feel like the rocket is fueled, the food has been stored in a nice little compartment, I'm ready for the trip. I am nice and seat-belted in, but God is up there in the control tower and He has started this extremely long count-down!

Have you ever felt like that? I keep reminding myself that Jesus didn't really start his full-time ministry until he was around 30. He spent many years just being a working man and living among people and was one of them. I am going to give a schedule of what I would like to have one day, this should be fun...

1....wake up, pray with my wife (hint hint God), go read, then head to the airport
2...arrive at airport, buy something fatty and strike up a conversation with someone and share with them.
3...arrive at destination city, speak to a group of people who will leave and go out and share their faith...go have dinner with some of those people, get to know each other, have a good time. Go to sleep.
4...wake up next morning and jump in a cab, do a radio show interview with Todd Friel, and head back to the airport (and hopefully get to share with the cab driver)
5...get to airport, do it all over again, but this time, try a different kinda muffin or fatty doughnut.
6...have a hot wife waiting at the airport who loves me and wants to have about 3-4 kids and maybe adopt 1 :)
7....have dinner with that same hot wife who loves Jesus and see what happened while I was gone. I would also like to end dinner with a fat piece of cheesecake.
8...step 8 has been intentionally left blank. :)

Response to "Bullhorn Guy" Video by NOOMA

I have been a fan of some of the NOOMA videos since I discovered them about a year ago. One problem I have with some of them is the "Jesus Loves You" type of reaching people. Basically, sitting and listening to someone without ever really telling them the truth of the gospel. It's one thing to listen to people and show them that you care, but it's another thing to willingly not share with them for fear that they will not like you.

You just gotta laugh

So last night I went up to Winthrop to speak at their FCA. Beforehand we met at Zaxby's and I actually tried the grilled cheese. I have been against the grilled cheese for a long time, only because it is expensive and I just can't see paying for it! Anyway, FCA insisted paying for my meal and I wasn't that hungry (imagine that) so I had the grilled cheese. It was quite wonderful :)

So we left and went over to FCA. We played ping pong a little while and then I ended up meeting a guy there and we struck up a conversation. We had many things in common, he liked editing videos and doing things with sound, and he also was a magician on the side. So we talked about illusions and fun tricks, it was a good conversation. He needed some voiceover help for his magic show videos and I am very willing to help. So I went up to speak and talked about evangelism, imagine that. I have felt in the past few years to equip believers in evangelism. Most of the church today just seems really inefficient and the whole "invite someone to church" mentality is not Biblical! I just want people to see that they can be the church to the world and it's not about bringing people back into the huddle and assimilating them. After I spoke and FCA was over, the guy I met at the beginning walked up to me smiling. He hadn't realized that I was going to be the speaker that night and said, "there was a reason that you and I bumped into each other and started talking." I laughed and agreed. He ended up pouring his heart out and asking tough questions about Catholicism etc. He had grown up Catholic and then ended up leaving to become a Mormon. After some time there, he started reading the Bible for himself and realized he was in a cult. Now he is a believer and is living for the Lord. He started asking about prayer to Mary and is that right? This guy was realizing that a lot of his friends were not Christians. Something just kinda came over our conversation right in the middle of it, and we both started praying. It might sound a little strange, but it was quite amazing. I just loves those times when you know the Lord is right there with you and is speaking through you. So I got home last night and sent him lots of good information, convenient in God's plan, He had me listening to sermons on prayer to Mary etc the week before, He knows what He is doing!

So I leave FCA and I was pretty much on cloud 9. I really believe I went there last night just to be encouraged by that man and to encourage him. So I'm driving down a long long highway for about an hour with no radio just really being all spiritual you know. haha. You know those times when you just sit there and don't do anything, just sit in silence and awe that you serve a good God! Well right as I'm in this thought, I realize that I'm still on earth and there are speed limits. Yes, blue lights in my rear view. Ouch. He asks me if I was in a hurry and I told him that I was in my own world and didn't even realize I was doing 65 in a 35. He asked where I was coming from, "sir I am embarrassed to tell you that I just got back from speaking at an FCA." He laughed and said "ah man sometimes even police officers speed, but you just know that the state troopers out there will write you a ticket." He also told me that there were many deer on the road, he let me go :)

Of course, I left with that feeling you get and a deeper understanding of Grace! I was speaking with a friend on the telephone and we were talking about picking people up on the side of the road. I just love it. Well I kid you not, as soon as I get off the phone, I pull over to get gas. This guy walks right up to me at the pump and guess what he needs, a RIDE! I just laughed out loud and told him that I just got off the phone with a friend and we were talking about people on the side of the road. I told him to jump in my Jeep and conveniently he lived about 2-3 miles down the road from me in Pendleton. Are you telling me that God doesn't plan things out? Man. We had a good conversation and I dropped him off.

I can't wait for a day when I can have this kinda life on a day to day basis instead of a month to month! Eternity is always around the corner.

A good talk

Lately I have been learning about encouragement and its many forms. I have never really considered myself a great "personal" encourager. I feel like I have the ability to encourage large groups but really fail at encouraging people singular. After becoming a part of a local church, I've met people who are so good at encouragement and I've just learned so much through it. It can come in the form of words directly spoken to encourage or in a good talk. Lee and I talked about 2 hours last night and when I woke up this morning, I thought about how great of a talk it was and how much more encouraged I was. It's funny how when the Lord chooses to teach you something, He just goes for it in multiple cases. For me, He tells me something and then He will confirm it over and over, and over.

I also have just started listening to John MacArthur's Podcast and absolutely love it. He's one of the best teachers I've heard in a while and if you dig great teaching and not so much the "topical" sermons, he is your guy. I feel like when I listen to topical sermons, it seems like you hear the same stuff over and over, just packaged in a different theme or style. Of course there is always debate over that one but I think this sums it up best. "Give a man a fish, feed him for a day, teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime." Expository preaching teaches you how to really understand and open the Bible. I will say that topical type teaching is awesome for a new believer but there comes a point as Peter says that you must move on the meat and get away from the milk. I'm going to head up to the big Winthrop to speak at fca tomorrow, I've got lots of things on my heart, we'll see if the thoughts come out.

Booger eater is back!

So many of you will call me disgusting as you should.  But I must share this story.  A few weeks ago, I told a story of a guy eating boogers right in front of me!  So I will give him the benefit of the doubt in that he may not have realized he went straight from his nose to his mouth and then followed up with a finger roll.  A finger roll is what you do after you eat Kentucky Fried Chicken or Zaxby's.  It's when you lick all of your fingers and enjoy every ounce of it.  Well today, the booger eater returned.  There was a different strategy this time though, he didn't eat a booger.  Honestly, I don't know what he was eating.  He would play with his face then proceed to lick his fingers.  Okay, so I couldn't even stop watching him, I really just wanted to interrupt this person, but how do you do that?

"Excuse me sir, I notice that you have been eating boogers and other random things on your body, are you hungry?"  There is no easy way to do this so I will sit idly by and continue to watch this guy enjoy random things that he does.  It's amazing and I am just so wishing there was someone close to me that I could tell so they could see it is true.  Don't call me mean, YOU know you would do the same thing! 

So on to better things that actually mean something.  Church was awesome this morning and usually things go pretty smoothly, not today.  The video died and I couldn't get any of the words to display on the screen, most of the words were about 2 verses behind what they should be, we had some major software problems.  In all of that, I really just sat there kinda laughing outside and on the inside in that, I'm glad the Lord does not depend on everything we do to be perfect.  I'm glad He can use broken video, broken hearts, and really just broken people to do His will.  It's quite amazing.

Father Appointed Consequences

I've never really believed in coincidences. I believe the Lord appoints these times and if coincidences are real, then he created them :) I always feel like I'm changing God's will when I change my seat on an airplane. I am tall and I like to have a seat that is in the emergency exit or aisle. Well today, I changed my seat and I had that thought of...well God what if you really wanted me to sit in 46E? Ha, not really but you get my point.

I ended up sitting beside a woman that was friendly. She invited me to share a armrest with her. I usually try and strike up conversation on the plane but after a long week of work, I was beat. I really just wanted to lay back and sleep. I ended up waking myself up and she told me I had been snoring, then she said, "just kidding." We ended up having a really good conversation about the Lord and probably talked about 45 minutes. It was really neat in that we both shared things with each other that really encouraged both of us. I told her about witnessing and evangelism and she told me about dating, life, and marriage. I left the plane and the conversation just full of joy and felt good about life. It's amazing had I not changed my seat or went to sleep the whole time in the new seat, I would have missed out on a blessing.

Just a little Snack

So I woke up this morning to get ready to head back home.  Well this is where I must confess that I ate a huge piece of bread pudding with a special syrup w/ pecans and BlueBelle Icecream on top.  I'm talking like...right now, I want to eat all of it but it is about the size of a 1/2 acre.  I know that if I do eat all of it, it will cause some havoc in my stomach right in the middle of a flight.  And THAT is the worst feeling.  So I think I am going to throw it away, whew....done.

I also saw a story yesterday about people, like you and me, who eat out the garbage.  They are called Freegans.  They go to grocery stores and dig in their trash for food.  Now they can afford to buy food but they don't want to cause waste and are upset at the people who do.  It was interesting story.  One guy has lived out of the trash for 10 years!  They go and dig it out, take it home, clean it, and then cook it for a meal.  Amazing. 

RightGuard

So something gross happened the other day.  Usually I am not a big "sweater."  I can do a lot of work and I rarely sweat.  Well, the other day something different happened.  I am down in Tampa this week teaching a few classes and for some unknown reason, I was a sweat pit stained guy.  Right in the middle of teaching a class, I happened to see that I was sweating.  Well what does that mean?  That means that I didn't want to raise my arms up the whole time I was teaching.  It was a really strange feeling and I'm sure I looked weird.  I'm not sure what was up with my PH that day but it was bad.  But I didn't smell funny, I just had a lot of sweat.  Well, I finished teaching my class and came back to the hotel and changed.  I added RightGuard onto my grocery list at the hotel.  It was nice, when I came in, my two bottles of RightGuard were waiting on me :)  Is that what it's like to be married?  Send in the list and there it goes :)

More from Halloween

So every year we have to dress up at work and pass out candy to our entire company. This is what we had to do this year :)

Halloween at Work

Before Bed

Lord help me cipher this heart out, I think I have the outer pieces, just can't figure the middle out.

Proverbs 20:5
"The purposes of a man's heart are deep waters,
       but a man of understanding draws them out."

Halloween at Canterbury!

Halloween Party

So I know I always talk about parties and how much I love them...and today, I will again. So we planned a Halloween party about a week ago and nobody really responded. Usually when we have parties, a ton of people respond and come and it's so much fun. But again, nobody responded and on Monday I was like, "hey let's just not have it, not many people are going to come." The roomies and I talked it over and decided that we should have it anyway. It wasn't the biggest party we have ever had but it was still JUST RIGHT. We had so much fun! I don't think I have danced that much in a long time and my gorilla suit was proof of it! I stood in the yard before the party and scared people, oh how fun.

Perry had written a blog a while back about seeing cars pull into the parking lot and how excited that got him to know that so many people were coming to church. I think in many people who have the gift of evangelism, people just make you come alive. There is something unexplainable that happens when you see people come together and especially in a ministry setting. I know our party wasn't reaching the world with the gospel but it still just reminded me of what Heaven will be like (minus a few Tupac songs that played) and it just makes me happy. I like the big banquet idea and I like lots of food, and people shaking hands, hugging, and caring about each other. I like the idea of the focus being on what is around you and not being on yourself and being selfish. I like knowing people are having a good time and for a moment, life is good to them and they are experiencing fun and joy, and all those other fun Godly words :)

I'm just doing a lot of rambling because my eyes are tired, my legs are weak, my back is wet, my neck is soaked, i'm nasty, and just ready for bed :)

I was challenged earlier in the week to "remember the gospel." Not just to believe and be happy that you are a Christian, but to remember the One who was tortured, beaten, whipped, cursed, bruised, and murdered to give you a fountain of grace to drink from. I like what one of our pastors at church said...Jesus didn't die this private death, He didn't live his life in a cave, or in the woods, or somewhere crazy like the religious cult leaders. He blessed people publicly, healed them publicly, loved them publicly, judged them publicly, and ...okay, this sermon must end. Remember Him, okay?